What’s
News
Cardinal Sarah Talks
Liturgical Silence
egaining a sense of silence is a
priority, an urgent necessity,”
Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect
for the Congregation on Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, claimed recently.
His new book, The Strength of
Silence: Against the Dictatorship of
Noise, was published in French in
October 2016. At the time of its release, the French journal La Nef interviewed Cardinal Sarah, excerpts of
which appeared online in English in
The Catholic Worship Report (October 3, 2016).
Why is silence necessary today?
“God is silence, and this divine silence dwells within a human being,”
Cardinal Sarah says. “By living with
the silent God, and in Him, we ourselves become silent. Nothing will
more readily make us discover God
than this silence inscribed at the
heart of our being. I am not afraid to
state that to be a child of God is to be
a child of silence. […]
“God is silence, and the devil is
noisy. From the beginning, Satan
has sought to mask his lies beneath
a deceptive, resonant agitation. The
Christian owes it to himself not to be
of the world. It is up to him to turn
away from the noises of the world,
from its rumors that run headlong in
order to turn better toward what is
essential: God.
“Our busy, ultra-technological
Please see SILENCE on next page

The initial makeshift chapel, the Chapel of St. Bartholomew, served as ground zero for the return of daily life for the Benedictine Monks of
Norcia, Italy, following the earthquake of August 24—St. Bartholomew’s Feastday.

A Liturgical Year of Mercy – Three Priests from Around
the World Recall Pope Francis’s Extraordinary Jubilee
By
Joseph O’Brien, Managing Editor
_____________________________

A

s the Extraordinary Jubilee of the Holy Year of Mercy
draws to a close, observers of Pope Francis’s pontificate
should not be surprised that a pope who seeks to make
mercy a hallmark of his pontificate had called for this special
year-long celebration of mercy in the first place. Nor should
it be a surprise that priests around the world immersed in the
sacramental life of the Church are finding in this Holy Year a
renewed understanding of mercy within a liturgical context.
In the April 11, 2015, bull of indiction announcing the Holy
Year, Misericordiae Vultus (“The Face of Mercy”), Pope Francis
reminds the faithful that his own pontificate is inspired by the
example of Christ’s mercy toward Matthew the Apostle.
“Passing by the tax collector’s booth, Jesus looked intently at
Matthew,” Pope Francis writes. “It was a look full of mercy that
forgave the sins of that man, a sinner and a tax collector, whom
Jesus chose—against the hesitation of the disciples—to become
one of the Twelve. Saint Bede the Venerable, commenting on
this Gospel passage, wrote that Jesus looked upon Matthew
with merciful love and chose him: miserando atque eligendo.
This expression impressed me so much that I chose it for my
episcopal motto.”
In a larger context, Pope Francis’s words also indicate the
special place that the liturgy has in this Year of Mercy. According to the Vatican, the words evoke not only Christ’s mercy
within his pontificate but also the liturgical context in which
Pope Francis found this same mercy when he first discerned a
vocation to the priesthood more than 60 years ago.
“The motto of Pope Francis,” states the Vatican website
which explains Pope Francis’s coat of arms, “is taken from a
passage from the venerable Bede, Homily 21 (CCL 122, 149151), on the Feast of Matthew, which reads: Vidit ergo Jesus
publicanum, et quia miserando atque eligendo vidit, ait illi, ‘Sequere me’. [Jesus therefore sees the tax collector, and since he
sees by having mercy and by choosing, he says to him,
‘follow me’.]
“This homily is a tribute to Divine Mercy and is read during
the Liturgy of the Hours on the Feast of St Matthew. This has
particular significance in the life and spirituality of the Pope.
In fact, on the Feast of St Matthew in 1953, the young Jorge
Bergoglio experienced, at the age of 17, in a very special way,
the loving presence of God in his life. Following confession, he

“All the liturgy is a place where mercy
is encountered and welcomed in order
to be given; a place where the great
mystery of reconciliation is made
present, announced, celebrated,
and communicated.”
- Pope Francis, August 22, 2016
Message for National Liturgical Week

felt his heart touched and he sensed the descent of the Mercy
of God, who with a gaze of tender love, called him to religious
life, following the example of St Ignatius of Loyola.”
In Misericordiae Vultus, Pope Francis cites this same passage
from St. Matthew’s Gospel to relate the many ways that Christ
calls those he desires to serve the Church, including the call to
heal the sick and feed the hungry:
“Jesus, seeing the crowds of people who followed him,” Pope
Francis writes, “realized that they were tired and exhausted,
lost and without a guide, and he felt deep compassion for them
(cf. Mt 9:36). On the basis of this compassionate love he healed
the sick who were presented to him (cf. Mt 14:14), and with
just a few loaves of bread and fish he satisfied the enormous
crowd (cf. Mt 15:37). What moved Jesus in all of these situations was nothing other than mercy, with which he read the
hearts of those he encountered and responded to their deepest
need.”
As our Lord had done during his earthly ministry, so Christ
continues to provide spiritual food and spiritual medicine—
and mercy—to the world through the sacraments and the liturgy safeguarded by his Church. The Eucharist, that is, Christ
himself, body and blood, soul and divinity, presents himself as
the living food who nourishes the faithful soul while confession (and for venial sins, the Eucharist too) provides the spiritual medicine to heal the soul; both channels provide the grace
necessary for those souls seeking eternal union with Christ.
Like Pope Francis, priests throughout the world are responding to the call of mercy during this Holy Year. Every
Please see LITURGICAL on page 4

2

Adoremus Bulletin, November 2016

NEWS & VIEWS

Underscoring the importance of silence in worship, this
icon depicts the prophet Elijah, who sought out the Lord in
the violent wind, the earthquake, and the fire, but heard
him only in “a light silent sound” (1 Kings 19:12).

grace?
“St. John Paul II warns us: a human being enters into
participation in the divine presence ‘above all by letting himself be educated in an adoring silence, because
at the summit of the knowledge and experience of God
there is His absolute transcendence.’
“Sacred silence is the good of the faithful, and the
clerics must not deprive them of it!
“Silence is the cloth from which our liturgies ought
to be cut out. Nothing in them should interrupt the
silent atmosphere that is their natural climate.”
Here again Cardinal Sarah echoes former papal
teaching. Pope John Paul II, upon the 40th anniversary of the Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, called for “greater commitment [to] the experience of silence. We need silence ‘if we are to accept in
our hearts the full resonance of the voice of the Holy
Spirit and to unite our personal prayer more closely to
the Word of God and the public voice of the Church’
(Institutio Generalis Liturgiae Horarum 202). In a society that lives at an increasingly frenetic pace, often
deafened by noise and confused by the ephemeral, it is
vital to rediscover the value of silence. The spread, also
outside Christian worship, of practices of meditation
that give priority to recollection is not accidental. Why
not start with pedagogical daring a specific education
in silence within the coordinates of personal Christian
experience? Let us keep before our eyes the example
of Jesus, who ‘rose and went out to a lonely place, and
there he prayed’ (Mk 1:35). The Liturgy, with its different moments and symbols, cannot ignore silence”
(Spiritus et Sponsa 13).
No date has been set for the publication of the English edition of Cardinal Sarah’s book.

Motu Proprio Harmonizes
East and West on Sacraments

Revised Grail Psalter Editor to
Serve as OSB Abbot Primate

In a May 31 Apostolic Letter, De Concordia inter Codices,
“On the Agreement between the Codes,” Pope Francis
harmonizes variations in some sacramental practices
between the Western and Eastern Churches. Particularly
in our own day, suggests the Holy Father, when there is
an ever-greater population of Eastern Catholics in areas
of the Latin Church, due both to persecution and the
general mobility of populations, it is necessary to bring
the two codes into agreement. The changes authorized by
the Holy Father were first studied and suggested by the
Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.
A first clarification to the Latin Code confirms that, in
the case of parents where one is Catholic and the other
is non-Catholic Orthodox, the baptized child is ascribed
to the Church of the Catholic, whether Latin or Eastern
(see revised Canon 111§2). Latin priests may also legitimately baptize children of any non-Catholic Christian
(Orthodox or otherwise), as long as one of the parents
(or guardian) asks for it and it is impossible for them to
ask their own minister (see Canon 868§3).
A second area of harmonization focuses on the clergy
who receive marital consent. While the Latin Church
admits priests and deacons to witness a marriage, the
tradition of the Eastern Churches allows only a priest—a
deacon who witnessed as minister the vows of an Eastern
couple would do so invalidly. Consequently, a new third
paragraph to Canon 108 reads: “Only a priest validly assists at marriages between eastern parties or between one
Latin party and one Eastern party whether Catholic or
non-Catholic.”
A third, and related, area of concordance includes the
permission of a Latin Priest to witness the marriage of an
Eastern Orthodox couple, when other canonical conditions are met (see Canons 1109, 1116).
An official English-language translation does not at
present exist; the Latin text is available from the Holy
See’s website.

On September 10, 2016, the Congress of Abbots of the Order of Saint Benedict elected Abbot Gregory J. Polan, OSB,
of Conception Abbey, MO, as the tenth Abbot Primate of
the Benedictine Confederation, succeeding Abbot Primate
Notker Wolf, OSB, who served three terms from 2000 to
2016. As Abbot Primate, Polan will serve as the representative and administrative leader of Benedictines around
the world. With his election, he also becomes Abbot of
Sant’ Anselmo in Rome, where he will now reside.
Abbot Primate Polan is a skilled musician, linguist, and
a scholar of Sacred Scripture. He has also served as a consultant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Divine Worship since 2013 and is the
principal editor of the Revised Grail Psalter, confirmed in
2010 as the English liturgical psalter for the dioceses of the
United States of America.
When the Grail Psalms were first translated in the 1950s
and early 1960s, the desire to retain strict rhythmic patterns similar to those found in their original Hebrew
setting was a primary principle for the translators. In attempting to adhere to these rhythmic patterns, translators
would often abbreviate or paraphrase a text in preference
to a more literal translation. By doing so, some instances
of the rich biblical imagery of the Psalter were lost. Furthermore, in later decades, significant progress was made
in the understanding of Hebrew rhetoric and how to incorporate the Hebraic style in English translation. Finally,
there also arose a desire to return to a more elevated sacred language, in contrast to the informal and colloquial
approach of the 1950s and 1960s.
Printed copies of The Revised Grail Psalms can be purchased from The Printery House of Conception Abbey
(printeryhouse.org) or GIA Publications (GIAmusic.com/
RGP). The GIA web site also features an electronic version
available for viewing as well as licensing guidelines, and
an expanded history of this new Psalter: giamusic.com/
sacred_music/RGP/ psalmDisplay.cfm.

age has made us even sicker. Noise has become like
a drug on which our contemporaries are dependent.
With its festive appearance, noise is a whirlwind that
avoids looking oneself in the face and confronting the
interior emptiness. It is a diabolical lie. The awakening
can only be brutal.”
Pope Benedict XVI, upon his 2011 pastoral visit
to the Carthusian Charterhouse of Sarra San Bruno,
spoke similarly about the sickness wrought by unending noise. “Technical progress,” he says, “especially in
the area of transport and communications, has made
human life more comfortable but also more keyed up,
at times even frenetic. Cities are almost always noisy,
silence is rarely to be found in them because there is
always background noise, in some areas even at night.
In recent decades, moreover, the development of the
media has spread and extended a phenomenon that
had already been outlined in the 1960s: virtuality risks
predominating over reality. Unbeknownst to them,
people are increasingly becoming immersed in a virtual dimension because of the audiovisual messages
that accompany their life from morning to night.
“The youngest, born into this condition, seem to
want to fill every empty moment with music and images, out of fear of feeling this very emptiness. This is
a trend that has always existed, especially among the
young and in the more developed urban contexts, but
today it has reached a level such as to give rise to talk
about anthropological mutation. Some people are no
longer able to remain for long periods in silence and
solitude.”
In his October interview, Cardinal Sarah also spoke
about silence’s importance for the liturgy. The liturgy
is a school—or, as has been said, a womb—of human
and Christian formation, and thus a place that teaches
silence.
“Before God’s majesty, we lose our words,” the Cardinal says. “Who would dare to speak up before the
Almighty? St. John Paul II saw in silence the essence of
any attitude of prayer, because this silence, laden with
the adored presence, manifests ‘the humble acceptance
of the creature’s limits vis-à-vis the infinite transcendence of a God who unceasingly reveals Himself as
a God of love.’ To refuse this silence filled with confident awe and adoration is to refuse God the freedom
to capture us by His love and His presence. Sacred
silence is therefore the place where we can encounter
God, because we come to Him with the proper attitude of a human being who trembles and stands at
a distance while hoping confidently. We priests must
relearn the filial fear of God and the sacral character
of our relations with Him. We must relearn to tremble
with astonishment before the Holiness of God and the
unprecedented grace of our priesthood.”
Pope Francis echoed these very same sentiments
during his October 20 morning homily. “We cannot know the Lord without this habit of worship, to
worship in silence, adoration,” he said. “If I am not
mistaken, I believe that this prayer of adoration is the
least known by us, it’s the one that we do least. Allow
me to say this, waste time in front of the Lord, in front
of the mystery of Jesus Christ. Worship him. There in
silence, the silence of adoration. He is the Savior and I
worship Him” (Zenit, October 20, 2016).
The Cardinal Prefect went on to declare silence a
“cardinal law” of the liturgy. He said: “Silence teaches
us a major rule of the spiritual life: familiarity does not
foster intimacy; on the contrary, a proper distance is
a condition for communion. It is by way of adoration
that humanity walks toward love. Sacred silence opens
the way to mystical silence, full of loving intimacy.
Under the yoke of secular reason, we have forgotten
that the sacred and worship are the only entrances to
the spiritual life. Therefore I do not hesitate to declare
that sacred silence is a cardinal law of all liturgical celebration.
“Indeed, it allows us to enter into participation
in the mystery being celebrated. Vatican Council II
stresses that silence is a privileged means of promoting
the participation of the people of God in the liturgy.
The Council Fathers intended to show what true liturgical participation is: entrance into the divine mystery.
Under the pretext of making access to God easy, some
wanted everything in the liturgy to be immediately
intelligible, rational, horizontal, and human. But in
acting that way, we run the risk of reducing the sacred
mystery to good feelings. Under the pretext of pedagogy, some priests indulge in endless commentaries
that are flat-footed and mundane. Are these pastors
afraid that silence in the presence of the Most High
might disconcert the faithful? Do they think that the
Holy Spirit is incapable of opening hearts to the divine
Mysteries by pouring out on them the light of spiritual

AB/Wikimedia

Continued from SILENCE, page 1

Zenit, September 16, 2016

Adoremus Bulletin

Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy

Adoremus Bulletin (ISSN 1088-8233) is published six times a year by Adoremus—
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is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation of the State of California. Nonprofit periodicals postage paid at various US mailing offices. Change service
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in June 1995 to promote authentic reform of the Liturgy of the Roman Rite
in accordance with the Second Vatican Council’s decree on the Liturgy,
Sacrosanctum Concilium. Adoremus Bulletin is sent on request to members of
Adoremus. Suggested donation: $40 per year, US; $45 foreign.

From the Bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship Newsletter, September 2016 and January 2011

recent drive to work one morning found me listening to sports
radio. The topic was San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback Colin Kaepernick
and his decision not to stand during the
National Anthem. At the start of the NFL
preseason, Kaepernick sat during the
Anthem, saying he is “not going to stand
up to show pride in a flag for a country
that oppresses black people and people of
color.” At the 49ers’ regular-season opener, Kaepernick knelt on one knee, which
he has continued to do before each game
until this time.
Following his example, other teams
and players, from the professional ranks
to high school levels, have seen similar
postures and protests, and these stories
are now commonplace in the news. Even
some who sing the National Anthem
prior to NBA games have knelt while
singing.
On this recent sports talk show I was
listening to during my morning commute, the host raised a particular question about Kaepernick’s change of posture: from at one time standing, and
then to sitting, and currently to kneeling.
Standing during the National Anthem
signifies, among other things, respect,
attention, and—as Kaepernick himself
said—pride. On the contrary, sitting
during this moment rejects the aforementioned sentiments—and wins for
the quarterback a multitude of detractors. Would kneeling, instead of sitting,
be somehow more acceptable to those
angered by the sitting dissent, while still
signifying his dissatisfaction with current
cultural conditions?
For a Catholic, especially a liturgicallyminded one, debates about posture are
not new. When should we stand at the
Orate, fratres (“Pray, brethren”)? Can one
stand or kneel at the reception of communion? Should Father tell his congregation to sit during the lengthy reading
of the Good Friday Passion narrative?
Catholics—be they ordained or lay—may
disagree about the answers to such ques-

As these players kneeling in prayer prior to a baseball game demonstrate, even on the human level posture is important. The liturgy’s various
postures are first of all human postures which become signs and causes of grace in the supernatural life.

tions. They may also be unsure why or
how such-and-such a posture accompanies a given action. But one thing that
Catholics can agree upon is that postures
are important. Standing, sitting, and
kneeling are bearers of meaning, bodily
expressions of internal sentiments.
What I find noteworthy in the Kaepernick controversy—in addition to the current cultural questions it raises—is how
these postures are used and understood
by a secular world.
Colin Kaepernick, sports radio host
Dan Patrick, football analyst Tony
Dungy, and the many others who find
significance in the various postures possible during the Anthem are not, presumably, liturgical theologians. But one
doesn’t need to be Catholic to understand the centrality of such things. “In
human life,” the Catechism reminds us,
“signs and symbols occupy an important place. As a being at once body and
spirit, man expresses and perceives spiritual realities through physical signs and
symbols. As a social being, man needs

signs and symbols to communicate with
others, through language, gestures, and
actions. The same holds true for his relationship with God” (1146).
What Catholics have reinforced “in
their bones” from the liturgy are first
present by virtue of their humanity.
Standing may mean readiness and respect on the human plane. Sitting can
signify passivity and recollection on the
natural level. Kneeling conveys humility
and pleading in the cultural lexicon. The
liturgy presumes the human condition
and then heals, elevates, and perfects it.
The roots, then, of liturgical posture
are, in part, found in our own humanity.
And to stand, sit, or kneel at given times
is to do not simply something supernatural, but also to do that which is entirely
human. (The same may be said of liturgical direction: as the men and women
in the stadium together face the flag,
or the protesters in the demonstration
march together to the same destination,
the participants of the liturgy may orient
themselves as a unified body.)

But the Christian liturgy is not simply human: it is also entirely divine. To
these natural, human postures are added
other revealed meanings. Here, standing doesn’t simply mean readiness, but
imitates the victorious and resurrected
Christ, who St. Stephen sees “standing
at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55).
Sitting is not just relaxation, but at the
service of hearing the Word of God and
taking it to heart. Kneeling, too, receives
a great deal of meaning from both Old
and New Testaments: a sign of the Fall, of
humility, of worship, of supplication, of
adoration.
The liturgy rightly understood and
celebrated is a true school not only of
Christian formation but of human formation. Jesus came not just to reveal God
to man, but man to himself (Gaudium et
Spes 22). And since Jesus is abundantly
present to us in the liturgical celebration, we can be formed by him, becoming proud citizens not only of the earthly
city, but more especially of the heavenly
one to come.

The Power of the Knee in Catholic Liturgy
By
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
________________________

T

he spiritual and bodily meanings
of proskynein [i.e., adoration on
one’s knees] are really inseparable. The bodily gesture itself is the
bearer of the spiritual meaning, which
is precisely that of worship. Without
the worship, the bodily gesture would
be meaningless, while the spiritual act
must of its very nature, because of the
psychosomatic unity of man, express
itself in the bodily gesture. The two aspects are united in one word, because
in a very profound way they belong together. When kneeling becomes merely
external, a merely physical act, it becomes meaningless. On the other hand,
when someone tries to take worship
back into the purely spiritual realm and
refuses to give it embodied form, the
act of worship evaporates, for what is
purely spiritual is inappropriate to the
nature of man. Worship is one of those
fundamental acts that affect the whole
man. That is why bending the knee before the presence of the living God is
something we cannot abandon.
In saying this, we come to the typical gesture of kneeling on one or both

knees. In the Hebrew of the Old Testament, the verb barak, “to kneel,” is
cognate with the word berek, “knee.”
The Hebrews regarded the knees as a
symbol of strength; to bend the knee is,
therefore, to bend our strength before
the living God, an acknowledgment of
the fact that all that we are we receive
from him. In important passages of the
Old Testament, this gesture appears as
an expression of worship. At the dedication of the Temple, Solomon kneels
“in the presence of all the assembly of
Israel” (2 Chron 6:13). After the Exile,
in the afflictions of the returned Israel,
which is still without a Temple, Ezra
repeats this gesture at the time of the
evening sacrifice: “I…fell upon my
knees and spread out my hands to the
Lord my God” (Ezra 9:5). The great
psalm of the Passion, Psalm 22 (“My
God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?”), ends with the promise: “Yes, to
him shall all the proud of the earth fall
down; before him all who go down to
the dust shall throw themselves down”
(v.29, RSV adapted). The related passage Isaiah 45:23 we shall have to consider in the context of the New Testament. The Acts of the Apostles tells us
how St. Peter (9:40), St. Paul (20:36),

and the whole Christian community
(21:5) pray on their knees. Particularly
important for our question is the account of the martyrdom of St. Stephen.
The first man to witness to Christ with
his blood is described in his suffering
as a perfect image of Christ, whose
Passion is repeated in the martyrdom
of the witness, even in small details.
One of these is that Stephen, on his
knees, takes up the petition of the crucified Christ: “Lord, do not hold this
sin against them” (7:60). We should
remember that Luke, unlike Matthew
and Mark, speaks of the Lord kneeling
in Gethsemane, which shows that Luke
wants the kneeling of the first martyr
to be seen as his entry into the prayer
of Jesus. Kneeling is not only a Christian gesture, but a christological one.
For me, the most important passage
for the theology of kneeling will always
be the great hymn of Christ in Philippians 2:6-11. In this pre-Pauline hymn,
we hear and see the prayer of the apostolic Church and can discern within
it her confession of faith in Christ.
However, we also hear the voice of the
Apostle, who enters into this prayer
and hands it on to us, and, ultimately,
we perceive here both the profound

AB/Wikimedia

From The Spirit of the Liturgy

St. Stephen, the first to witness to Christ
with his life and give it to him in death,
imitates Jesus kneeling in Gethsemene
and even echoes his words, “Lord, do not
hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60).

inner unity of the Old and New Testaments and the cosmic breadth of Christian faith. The hymn presents Christ as
the antitype of the First Adam. While
Please see KNEELING on page 8

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Adoremus Bulletin, November 2016

AB/Rob Stothard/GettyImages/Flickr.com

splagchnizomai—because they were
like a sheep without a shepherd,’”
Monsignor Richter says, quoting
from this passage in Matthew. “‘So he
turned to them and said, ‘Beg the lord
of the harvest to send out laborers to
gather in his harvest.’ The Church understands and sees and teaches those
very things he continues to do in the
liturgy.”

An individual kneels before an Orthodox priest in an area separating police and anti-government protestors near Dynamo Stadium on January
25, 2014 in Kiev, Ukraine. In Confession, says Pope Francis, “there is fulfilled the encounter with the re-creating mercy of God.”

liturgical year offers mercy to those
who seek it in the sacraments and
so, arguably, every liturgical year is
therefore a “year of mercy.” Yet, this
particular liturgical year is conterminous with the Year of Mercy, which
began last year in Advent, Dec. 8, Feast
of the Immaculate Conception, and
ends on the last Sunday of the liturgical year, Nov. 20, Feast of Christ the
King. Whether guiding the faithful in
parishes, serving the Church through
prayer in monasteries, or laboring in
the missionary fields to gather souls
for salvation, priests are finding a special significance to the liturgy within
the context of mercy.
Mercenaries for Christ
As part of his announcement for the
Year of Mercy, Pope Francis handpicked a group of priests whom he
referred to in Misericordiae Vultus
as Missionaries of Mercy—1,071 of
them—to go out into the world to
spread mercy’s message. The Missionaries of Mercy, Pope Francis writes, are
to be “a living sign of the Father’s welcome to those in search of forgiveness.”
Nominated by their diocesan bishops
or religious superiors as exemplars of
mercy, these Missionaries of Mercy
lead the faithful to mercy through confession, celebration of Mass, preaching
during Mass and parish missions, and
in personal encounters with souls.
The “mercenaries” of this thousandstrong army were commissioned this
past Ash Wednesday, February 10 at
St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome. Of those
chosen, 700 were present that day to
concelebrate Mass with Pope Francis,
including Monsignor Thomas Richter, rector of the Cathedral of the Holy
Spirit in the Diocese of Bismarck, ND.
Seeking in his work as Missionary of
Mercy to minister to the Upper Midwest during Lent, Monsignor Richter’s travels took him to such places as
Fargo, ND, Marshfield, WI, and Rapid
City, SD. Ordained in 1996, Monsignor
Richter says the experience has helped
him focus on the role that mercy plays
in the liturgy and especially in the sacrament of confession.
“There really was an outpouring of
grace and response to Pope Francis’s
call to encounter the mercy of Jesus

“One day I sat in the
confessional for 8 hours
15 minutes, non-stop.”
both in the sacrament of reconciliation and in the prayer and preaching
during the liturgy, Monsignor Richter
says.
“It was the first time it happened to
me in my 20 years as a priest,” he says.
“One day I sat in the confessional for
8 hours 15 minutes, non-stop except
for a few brief breaks. It was a steady
stream of penitents; the good people
of God kept coming. It was very
beautiful.”
The power and efficacy of mercy,
Monsignor Richter says, can be focused in a single word from scripture:
σπλαγχνιζομαι (splagchnizomai). This
Greek word, like Christ’s crucifixion,
may sound ugly but, also like Christ’s
crucifixion, it signifies, Monsignor
Richter says, a beautiful expression
of love.
“The word is used 12 times in the
synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and
Luke),” Monsignor Richter says. “Each
gospel writer uses the word to communicate what happens when Christ
is moved to compassion. Literally, it
means ‘his guts were moved with pity.’”
The word also shows up, Monsignor
Richter notes, in the paramount parable of mercy—the story of the prodigal
son (Luke 15:11-32).
“The father, seeing him far off and—
splagchnizomai—ran out to meet him,”
Monsignor Richter says. “The New
American Bible translation of that
word is ‘filled with compassion,’ and
other translations say the father’s heart
was ‘moved to pity.’ But no matter how
you translate it, the word points to
what Christ does in the liturgy.”
The actions Christ performs in the
liturgy, Monsignor Richter says, include teaching, feeding, healing, and
communicating the importance of the
priesthood.
“Christ teaches every single day in
the Mass, both through scripture and
in the homily,” he says. “Christ’s guts
are moved with pity and cramped with
compassion to teach his truth through
his body the Church. That’s the mercy
in Jesus demanding the same of his

priests.”

By feeding the faithful as an act of
mercy, Monsignor Richter says, Christ
offers himself in the Eucharist as another example of splagchnizomai.
“In the miracle of the loaves and
fishes, Christ’s heart was moved and so
he fed them,” Monsignor Richter says.
“That’s what the Eucharist is all about.
This mercy which is in the historical
Jesus has not lessened in the heart of

AB/Monks of Norcia

Continued from LITURGICAL on page 1

Benedictine Mercy
While Monsignor Richter found the
connection between mercy and liturgy
in his roving ministry throughout
the Upper Midwest, the Benedictine
Monks of Norcia in Nursia, Italy, have
found mercy’s same power active within the holy silence of the monastic life.
Officially named Maria Sedes Sapientiae (“Mary Seat of Wisdom”), the Norcia monks’ monastery, which brews
beer as a main source of income, has a
special focus on the liturgy already as
its monks celebrate both forms of the
Roman Rite (ordinary and extraordinary) after the Vatican entrusted the
community a special apostolate to do
so in 2009.
Founded in Rome in 1998, “the
Monks of Norcia,” as they’re known,
left the Eternal City in 2001 for a more
rural setting, following in the footsteps
of their founder St. Benedict who settled in Subiaco, about 45 miles east of
Rome to establish monasteries in the
late 5th and early 6th century. As St.
Benedict’s 21st century spiritual sons,
the Monks of Norcia reestablished a
monastic presence in the saint’s birthplace, Nursia (the original Latin spelling by which the town is known in
English) in central Italy’s mountainous
region, a little more than 100 miles due
north of Rome.
Shattering the contemplative soli-

The monks visit their neighbors, especially those injured by the August 24 earthquake.
“The liturgy always presents the saving work of God before our eyes,” says Father Cassian
Folsom, reflecting on the days since Norcia’s quake. “It is this fundamental experience of
being loved by God that flows over into love of our neighbor. At the same time, the mercy we
experience from other people gives us an insight into the love of God for us.”

the risen Christ and in his Mystical
Body. That’s why the Catholic Church
instructs priests to celebrate Mass every day and feed the people. It is simply the mercy of Christ being lived out
and poured out in every day and in
every Catholic parish.”
The Eucharist also provides a liturgical context for healing and forgiveness,
Monsignor Richter says, recalling how
splagchnizomai led Christ to heal so
many, physically and spiritually, during his earthly ministry. Pointing to
the moment Christ promised to send
his disciples shepherds (Matthew
9:36), Monsignor also sees the priesthood itself as a gift of mercy to the
Church.
“‘When he saw the crowd, his heart
was moved with pity for them—

tude of these monks, though, on Aug.
24, a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck
this same region of Italy. Its epicenter
was located in neighboring Accumoli,
with more than 2,500 aftershocks measured from the time of the initial tumult to Aug. 30. The quake caused 297
deaths and wounded another 395 (the
monks survived without injury). While
it did not take the full brunt of the
quake, the Nursia monastery was not
spared its share of damage.
Founding prior Father Cassian Folsom, who made his monastic vows
in 1980 and was ordained a priest in
1984, offered a reflection on the quake
two days after the event. He wrote on
the monastery’s website about what the
monks experienced.
“Wednesday, August 24th was the
Continued on next page

Adoremus Bulletin, November 2016

Pope Francis’s Coat of Arms bears the
phrase “by having mercy and by choosing”
from Venerable Bede’s homily on the calling of St. Matthew.

with which God clothes us. The corporal and spiritual works of mercy are
effects or consequences of our experience of God’s mercy in prayer. St. Paul
summarizes this nicely when he says:
‘He loved me and gave himself for me’
(Gal 2:20). It is this fundamental experience of being loved by God that flows
over into love of our neighbor. At the
same time, the mercy we experience
from other people gives us an insight
into the love of God for us.”
The rebuilding process for the monastery and the surrounding community continues apace, and the Monks
of Norcia welcome donations through
their recently announced $7.5 million
capital campaign drive—Deep Roots
(en.nursia.org/donations).

“Practicing compassion
and mercy is difficult
for most without the
help of God’s word
and the strength
of the sacraments.”
Mercy for all
East across the Mediterranean Sea
from Italy, in the ancient Christian
land of Jordan, Father Michael Linden
works as a Jesuit missionary and serves
as Jesuit Superior of Jordan. Entering
the order in 1968 and ordained a priest
in 1980, Father Michael has helped
spread mercy in the Caribbean, the
United Kingdom, and Africa before
coming to the Middle East.
“One could say that my life is that of
a contemporary missionary,” he tells
Adoremus via email, “working with local churches, adding some of the Jesuit
charisms and spirituality, and finding
the Gospel as a ‘call to Mission’ which
God has established for all who follow
his Son Jesus.”
The practice of mercy, this many
years later, Father Michael says, keeps
him focused on the work he fell in love
with 36 years ago. “Somehow I feel as
fresh today as when my earlier intuitions suggested that I could, might,
and then should try to be a priest in
the Society of Jesus,” he says. “I hardly
ever look back, however—the past has
no hold on me or any fascination. I go
forward, looking for the areas of my
experience where the Gospel seems
alive, and I always find others there.”
As if Africa and the Caribbean
weren’t far enough to find new opportunities to spread mercy in the world,

Father Michael says he took on his
work in Jordan as a way of living out
the old Jesuit adage that the work of
the Society is the work of frontiersmen.
“My experience is that for any of us,
indeed for any Christian, we will have
to be at some frontier where our faith
meets the ‘arena,’ where it faces challenge and can be sustained by God,”
he says. “If you will, the ‘frontier finds
us,’ rather than we find it. With that in
mind, I knew with the mind of my superiors that my work in Jordan would
be a good opportunity to depend
more on God, to seek the life of the
Gospel, to serve, and to be personally
confronted at some frontier of life and
faith.”
One of the most difficult frontiers
to cross in the region, Father Michael
says, is that of Muslim-Christian relations. But even in this case, he adds,
mercy is the answer—although never a
pat answer.
“Mercy is the antidote for hatred,” he
says. “If believers undertake the merciful action, within their understanding of God’s mission, God cannot fail.
This goes for Christians and Muslims.
Hatred is the supposed state of Satan,
and he has lots of company here; only
a spiritually-sustained effort of mercy
can counter the enormous power of
evil.”
Related to this challenge Father Michael struggled to help those affected
by the deportation of Sudanese workers by the Jordanian government on
Dec. 18, 2015.
“The Year of Mercy began quietly for
us, and I was wondering what it might
mean,” he says. “Then, in December of
2015, the Jordan Government forcibly
deported to original countries hundreds of Sudanese refugees.”
Many of the more than 800 deported
were students and coworkers in the
education and family assistance programs that the Jordan Jesuits had organized, Father Michael says.
“The Year of Mercy came alive with
the need to protect, assist, and work
more urgently for justice for these
people and other refugees,” he says.
“Our Jesuit community now tithes its
salaries and other incomes to assist
vulnerable people, and we work closely
with Catholic and other resettlement
groups to save these people. They were
tortured, most of them, in Sudan, and
Jordan has proven dangerous also. We
miss our friends greatly; many have

ended up drowned in the Mediterranean Sea as they attempted to flee Sudan again.”
In his own daily dealings with mercy, Father Michael has found time to
reflect on its power in the liturgy and
how it has helped shape him as a priest
and missionary.
“By calling us to compassion and
mercy, Pope Francis has defined a year
of the mission of God,” he says. “Much
of the Gospel speaks to compassion
and mercy, especially the Gospel of
Luke which we use on many Sundays.
The people of God also have to be reconciled to the outcasts, sinners, refugees, undesirables—and this is very
difficult for most without the help of
God’s word and the strength of the
sacraments.
“And the actions of compassion and
mercy can be fine humanitarian acts,
as they are indeed for many, but for the
people of God, they are divine acts in
fidelity to the very mission of God for
his most beloved vulnerable persons;
we can announce this in our liturgical
actions.”
The faithful that Father Michael
serve through the liturgy include many
international workers, and while there
are many languages to contend with,
he says, all understand the basic language of the liturgy.
“In Jordan, we have the honor of
serving a large English-language
population,” he says. “Many others
are workers from Philippines, India,
Sri Lanka, who take humble jobs in
Jordan because they need to support
their families back home. There are
diplomats also, and some management
of international companies; there are
many NGO workers; there are also ‘internationalized’ Jordanians. These are
the people we serve liturgically.
“Our task has been to let the word of
God and our Catholic worship learn to
widen boundaries of love and care—to
our own Iraqi Christians who have fled
the Islamic State, to our Muslim brothers and sisters who have fled genocide,
racism, violence, hatred. Yes, domestic
workers and professionals have hard
lives, but our sense of God’s mission
among us has been widening to include so many others in our midst who
are victims of unvarnished hatred. This
is not easy, even for very good people—but the tools of the sacraments
and the Gospel can both convince and
sustain us in God’s work.”

AB/NCRegister

feast of St. Bartholomew,” Father Cassian writes, “which meant that Matins
was scheduled to begin at 3:45 a.m.
Around 3:30—when all of us were
already up, thanks be to God—the
earthquake hit. We had experienced
tremors before in the 16 years we’ve
been living in Norcia, but nothing like
this. It’s a very frightening experience
to hear the earth growling and to feel
the building swaying drunkenly this
way and that. We all had the presence
of mind to get out immediately and assemble in an open place—the piazza in
front of the monastery. There we huddled together in the cold, as successive
tremors caused the stone pavement to
ripple under our feet.
“The monks and townspeople instinctively gathered around the statue
of St. Benedict which is located in the
center of the piazza. The monks prayed
the Rosary together and many of the
townspeople joined in. We gave heartfelt thanks to God that our lives were
spared.”
Then on Oct. 26, another pair of aftershocks—each very much an earthquake in its own right, the first registering 5.5 magnitude and the second
6.1—struck the region again, adding
further damage to the monastery, especially the monks’ living quarters,
and surrounding towns and villages.
Italian officials reported no further loss
of life. In an email to friends and supporters around the world, Father Cassian writes that the Oct. 26 disasters
had practically finished the destructive
work of the initial August quake.
“The Basilica fared the worst,” he
writes. “Most dramatically, perhaps, the
Celtic Cross which adorned the 13th
century facade came crashing down.”
Finally, on Oct. 30, Mother Nature
completed her work of destruction to
the basilica as another earthquake, this
time registering a 6.6 magnitude—the
largest such event in Italy in 36 years—
shook the ancient church building to
utter ruin. Comparing the devastation
to the “bombed-out churches from the
Second World War,” Father Cassian
reported in another email to supporters and friends on Oct. 31 that, even
amid the dust and rubble that litters the
landscape of Norcia, faith had cause to
wonder at God’s mercy.
“The…miracle is that there were no
casualties,” he writes. “All the fear and
anxiety following the first few earthquakes now seem a providential part of
God’s mysterious plan to clear the city
of all inhabitants.”
Finding time during the busy challenges of rebuilding, Father Cassian
told Adoremus via email, the Year of
Mercy has, suffice it to say, taken on
special significance for the monks.
“In the aftermath of the earthquake,
we have often been on the receiving
end of the corporal works of mercy,”
he says. “So many friends have come
to our assistance in order to begin the
huge project of rebuilding. At the same
time, it has been our privilege to give
concrete help to needy families. We
have also been exercising the spiritual
works of mercy, especially ‘to comfort
the afflicted,’ since the monastic presence and our interior attitude of faith
and trust in God’s providence is a great
source of strength for our neighbors
here in Norcia.”
In the liturgy, too, Father Cassian
says, the monks have found mercy
abounding and serving as a mainstay
of consolation for the monks and their
neighbors.
“The liturgy always presents the saving work of God before our eyes,” he
says. “Justice and mercy are like the
warp and woof of a precious fabric

5

“Our task,” according to Father Michael Linden, Jesuit Superior of Jordan and Iraq, “has
been to let the word of God and our Catholic worship learn to widen boundaries of love and
care—to our own Iraqi Christians who have fled the Islamic State, to our Muslim brothers
and sisters who have fled genocide, racism, violence, hatred.”

6

Adoremus Bulletin, November 2016

Ever Ancient—Ever New: Implementing Musicam Sacram Today
Part I: Renewal of Sacred Music in Continuity with the Past

AB/Southern Nebraska Register

Sacram today is a critical task in our efforts for a new
evangelization.

The Diocese of Lincoln, NE, held its first annual Sacred Music Clinic this past August where over 230 parish liturgical musicians and parishioners from around the diocese were offered formation in the principles enumerated by Musicam Sacram.

By
Adam Bartlett
______________

O

n March 5th, 2017, the universal Church will
commemorate the 50th anniversary of Musicam
Sacram, the post-conciliar Instruction on Music in the Liturgy issued by the Holy See in the Spring
of 1967. As Susan Benofy shows in the September 2016
edition of Adoremus Bulletin,1 the Vatican sacred music
instruction largely went unimplemented in the United
States following its release, and today it continues to
be largely unknown to liturgical musicians and clergy
alike. The post-conciliar instruction, however, remains
authoritative and has lost nothing of its value. Just as
the Church has been undertaking a process of mature
reflection upon the fruits of the implementation of the
Second Vatican Council in recent years at the distance
of a half century, it also seems opportune to undertake
a re-reading of Musicam Sacram and to implement its
timeless principles in our parishes today.
The Instruction on Music in the Liturgy has already
begun to see something of a resurgence over the past
decade. The implementation of the Roman Missal, Third
Edition, in addition to the publication of a number of
new liturgical and musical resources, have helped parishes of even the most humble means begin singing the
Mass in the way that Musicam Sacram describes. Efforts
in education and practical training have also been on
the rise. Most recently, the Diocese of Lincoln, NE, held
its first annual “Sacred Music Clinic” this past August
where over 230 parish liturgical musicians from around
the diocese were offered formation in the principles
enumerated by Musicam Sacram. Though most participants were volunteers with modest abilities and varying levels of experience, everyone participated in both
a fully sung Morning Prayer and concluding Mass, and
were equipped with knowledge of the Church’s principles on sacred music and the liturgy as well as with
the skills and resources to help make it a reality, bit by
bit, in their parishes. Having been involved in this conference, along with dozens more like it in parishes and
dioceses around the country over the past several years,
I am convinced that the Church in America is ready
and hungering for a deeper renewal of sacred music,
and that a faithful implementation of the principles and
directives of Musicam Sacram will be the key to this renewal.
Renewal in Continuity with the Past
Musicam Sacram was released by the Concilium that
was established to implement the Constitution on the
Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council. The Instruction describes itself as a “continuation and complement of the preceding Instruction…for the correct
implementation of the Liturgy Constitution” (MS 3) of
1964, Inter Oecumenici.2 Musicam Sacram “expound[s]
more fully certain relevant principles of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy” (MS 3), particularly those
contained in its sixth chapter which is fully dedicated
to sacred music. Musicam Sacram, then, not only bears

magisterial weight and
authority, but also is
part of the Church’s
formal effort to ensure
a right implementation
of the Council’s teaching on the sacred liturgy.
It remains today the
Church’s official instruction on sacred music.
The liturgy constitution’s chapter on sacred music is
relatively brief, being comprised of only nine articles.
In the first article of chapter six, the constitution praises
the musical tradition of the Church, calling it a “treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any
other art” (SC 112). The document places itself within
the context of the Church’s living tradition, recalling
the recent Roman pontiffs—particularly Pope St. Pius
X—who further developed the Church’s understanding of sacred music in the twentieth century. Before
proceeding with its decrees on sacred music, the liturgy constitution states that what follows is “keeping
to the norms and precepts of ecclesiastical tradition
and discipline” (SC 112). It then proceeds to synthesize
the Church’s teaching on sacred music as it developed
from Pius X up through the Council,3 and enshrines it
permanently in a constitution of an ecumenical council. The extent of this continuity is vividly shown in the
footnotes included in the working drafts of the document during the Council.4
Similarly, Musicam Sacram states at the outset that it
“does not... gather together all the legislation on sacred
music” (MS 3). It does not claim to be a “juridical code
of sacred music” as Tra le Sollecitudini of Pius X does
(TLS par. 3), or to “put together…all the main points
on sacred liturgy, sacred music and the pastoral advantages of both” as De Musica Sacra et Sacra Liturgia does
(DMSSL 3). It is clear in both the liturgy constitution
and Musicam Sacram that this work has already been
done, and neither document attempts to replicate or
abrogate it. The Instruction on Music in the Liturgy
instead only “establishes the principal norms which
seem most necessary for our day” (MS 3), in relation
to what the Church has already taught and previously
expressed. It must be read, then, in light of the Church’s
continuous teaching on the subject.
The principles elaborated by Musicam Sacram are as
relevant to our day as they were in 1967, and they are
just as necessary. A full understanding of these principles requires not only that we take into account the
Church’s continuous teaching, but also that we understand their role within the context of our contemporary situation. Central to the Second Vatican Council’s
teaching is the conviction that the liturgy is the source
and summit of the whole of the Church’s life and missionary activity.5 Since sacred music is not merely a
decorative or incidental part of the liturgical celebration, but “forms a necessary or integral part of the solemn liturgy” (SC 112), the implementation of Musicam

What is Sacred Music?
At the outset, Musicam Sacram states the principal purpose of sacred music, which is “the glory of God and
the sanctification of the faithful” (MS 4). This definition
comes from the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (See
SC 112) which took the definition directly from Pope
St. Pius X’s 1903 Motu Proprio, Tra le Sollecitudini.6
The purpose of sacred music, according to Pius X, is
the same as the purpose of the liturgy itself. The liturgy
gives glory to God because it is Christ’s perfect prayer to
the Father, “performed by the Mystical Body of Christ,
that is, by the Head and His members…, an exercise
of the priestly office of Jesus Christ” (SC 7). When the
faithful fully and actively participate in this prayer of
Christ that glorifies God, they are in turn sanctified and
filled with heavenly grace. Sacred music, according to
Musicam Sacram, has no other purpose than to deeply
engage the Church in the prayer of Christ that glorifies
the Father and that in turn sanctifies the Mystical Body
of Christ.
Both Musicam Sacram and Sacrosanctum Concilium
rely upon the 1903 Motu Proprio in many ways, especially when both documents speak of sacred music’s
needed qualities. While the liturgy constitution states
that the Church admits “all forms of true art having
the needed qualities” (SC 112) into divine worship, it
doesn’t in fact list what these qualities are. The reason
for this omission is that these qualities have already
been defined by Pius X and were well known and understood at the time of the Council. Tra le sollecitudini
states: “Sacred music should consequently possess, in
the highest degree, the qualities proper to the liturgy,
and in particular sanctity and goodness of form, which
will spontaneously produce the final quality of universality” (TLS 2). These three qualities proper to sacred
music—holiness, goodness of form (i.e., beauty), and
universality—are reiterated by Musicam Sacram, which
says, “By sacred music is understood that which, being created for the celebration of divine worship, is endowed with a certain holy sincerity of form” (MS 4a).
The quality of universality is not mentioned explicitly
by Musicam Sacram, but this is not necessary since it is
already established that universality is spontaneously
produced by holiness and sincerity of form. Sacrosanctum Concilium also states positively that the category of
holiness requires music not only to be free of profane7
influence in its composition or execution, but that it be
intimately connected to the liturgical action,8 echoing
once again St. Pius X.9
In summary, sacred music—as expressed by Musicam Sacram in continuity with the Church’s continuous
teaching—is:
1. Sacred song united to the words [of the liturgy]
that forms a necessary or integral part of the solemn liturgy (SC 112).
2. For the purpose of the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful, which is the same purpose as the
liturgy itself (See TLS 1, SC 112, MS 4).
3. Endowed with a holiness that excludes the profane
and is instead intimately connected with the liturgical
action (See TLS 2, SC 112).
4. True art that possesses a goodness or sincerity of
form—that is beautiful (See TLS 3, SC 112, MS 4).
5. Universal, meaning that while “the Church approves of all forms of true art having the needed qualities, and admits them into divine worship,” (SC 112; See
TLS 2) “still these forms must be subordinated in such
a manner to the general characteristics of sacred music
that nobody of any nation may receive an impression
other than good on hearing them” (TLS 2).
The purpose and qualities of sacred music as articulated and upheld within Musicam Sacram can guide our
efforts of liturgical and musical renewal today. Before
choosing the music that is sung in the liturgy, we should
ask ourselves: Is it integral to the liturgy and the liturgical action, or is it vague, merely functional or superfluous to it? Does it contribute to the glory of God and are
the faithful of my parish growing in holiness as a result
of it? Is it holy and free of references to the profane and
secular? Is it truly beautiful, or is it merely utility music?
Is it universal to the extent that any other culture will
see it as good and holy? Is the music that is sung in the
liturgy truly sacred music?
Continued on next page

Adoremus Bulletin, November 2016

7

AB/Southern Nebraska Register

Kinds of Sacred Music
Musicam Sacram defines what kinds of music come under the title of sacred music. It provides the following list
(See MS 4):
1. Gregorian chant
2. Sacred polyphony in its various forms both ancient
and modern
3. Sacred music for the organ and other approved instruments
4. Sacred popular music, be it liturgical or simply religious
The footnote following this list refers the reader to
a document released nine years earlier, and only four
years before the opening of the Council: the Instruction
De Musica Sacra et Sacra Liturgia. This document also
produces such a list, but additionally provides further
commentary on the use of these different kinds of music
(DMSSL 4-10) which should be referenced when reading
Musicam Sacram.
The first kind of music mentioned is Gregorian chant.
The liturgy constitution states that “The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the
Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it
should be given the main place in liturgical services.”10
Adam Bartlett directs the choir during Diocese of Lincoln’s recent Sacred Music Clinic at the Thomas Aquinas Newman
Musicam Sacram reiterates the primacy of Gregorian
Center on the Campus of the University of Nebraska
chant as expressed by the Council and as codified by
the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM).
Though the Instruction incidentally places this conciliar
Musicam Sacram clarified in a dubium response in 1969
Pius X reminds us, however, that fundadirective under the heading “in
that the “rule [permitting vernacular hymns] has been
mentally
“the
music
proper
to
the
Church
sung liturgical services celebrated “The music proper
superseded. What must be sung is the Mass, its Ordinary
is
purely
vocal
music”
(TLS
15),
and
the
in Latin,” the Constitution and
and Proper, not ‘something,’ no matter how consistent,
primary
liturgical
instrument,
therefore,
to
the
Church
is
GIRM make no such requirement,
that is imposed on the Mass…. To continue to replace
is
the
human
voice.
As
Musicam
Sacram
just as Musicam Sacram itself
purely
vocal
music
the texts of the Mass...is to cheat the people…. Thus
states,
however,
other
instruments
may
also
states that “[t]here is nothing to
texts must be those of the Mass, not others, and singing
be
used
in
the
liturgy,
of
which
the
organ
prevent different parts in one and
and the primary
means singing the Mass not just singing during Mass.”12
is
the
first.
The
organ
is
primary
because
it
the same celebration being sung
The GIRM, however, does allow for hymns to be sung
liturgical instrument, mirrors the anatomy and process of human
in different languages” (MS 51).
at certain moments, such as following the distribution
vocal
production,
which
produces
sound
At a bare minimum, the Instructherefore,
is
the
of Communion (See GIRM 88). Similarly, GIRM 48, 74
through
breath.
The
renewal
of
sacred
mution reiterates the Constitution on
and 87 allow for the singing of another liturgical chant in
sic
in
our
day
should
give
prominence
to
the Sacred Liturgy’s requirement
human voice”
place of the proper antiphon, which in common custom
the
organ
as
the
model
of
instrumental
muthat “[p]astors of souls should
has often taken the form of a hymn, along with a hymn
sic
and
accompaniment
in
the
liturgy.
take care that besides the vernacuat the conclusion of Mass. But this custom—a holdover
The
fourth
and
final
kind
of
music
listed
lar ‘the faithful may also be able to
from the recited low Mass prior to the Council—does
by
Musicam
Sacram
is
sacred
popular
music,
be
it
liturgisay or sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary
not appear to be the hope of the Council Fathers or Mucal
or
simply
religious.
Once
again,
the
Instruction
relies
of the Mass which pertain to them’” (MS 47).
sicam Sacram, as evidenced in the Concilium’s dubium
upon
previous
definitions
provided
by
the
Church
in
Many of our parishes today have made progress in
response.
order
to
understand
this
category
of
sacred
music.
Firstthis area, learning to sing at least the Kyrie, Sanctus and
An implementation of Musicam Sacram today will inly,
it
should
be
understood
that
the
term
“popular”
does
Agnus Dei—and in many places much more—in the simvolve
an increase in singing the texts of the liturgy as the
11
not
connote
secular
“pop”
music
as
we
define
it
today,
or
plest Gregorian chant settings, just as scholas and choirs
Church
appoints them in the liturgical books, both by
music
that
is
culturally
“popular”
in
the
sense
of
being
in parishes and cathedrals alike have increased their use
the
people
and, at times, by the choir alone. It also will
fashionable.
The
sense
of
“popular”
music
in
Musicam
of the more elaborate Gregorian chant propers found in
involve
fostering
the singing of hymns and other reliSacram
is
music
that
is
sung
by
the
people,
as
opposed
to
the Church’s choir book, the Graduale Romanum. The
gious
songs
in
their
proper places within the Liturgy of
by
the
ministers
or
choir
alone.
primacy of Gregorian chant was strongly asserted by
the
Hours
and
in
the
devotional life, as a preparation for
The
term
“liturgical”
music
used
by
Musicam
Sacram,
Tra le sollecitudini, which called it “the chant proper to
participation in the liturgy.
strictly
speaking,
refers
to
music
that
sets
the
liturgical
the Roman Church…which she directly proposes to the
text to music (See TLS 7-9), as it is given in the Church’s
faithful as her own…,” as well as “the supreme model for
Why Sing the Liturgy?
liturgical books, whether it is the text of the Order of
sacred music” (TLS 3). Sacrosanctum Concilium, MusiMusicam Sacram offers a beautiful reflection on
Mass,
the
Ordinary
of
the
Mass,
or
the
antiphons
and
cam Sacram, and the GIRM have upheld this primacy
various reasons why the liturgy should be sung, recalling
Psalms
of
the
Proper
of
the
Mass.
The
Roman
Missal
and a renewal of sacred music in our day must take Grethe Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy’s teaching that
and
Graduale
Romanum
provide
musical
settings
for
all
gorian chant as its starting point and center of gravity.
“[l]iturgical worship is given a more noble form when it
of
the
texts
of
the
liturgy
that
are
meant
to
be
sung,
as
The second kind of music mentioned by Musicam
is celebrated in song...” (MS 5; Cf. SC 113) and elaboratfound in their normative Gregorian chant settings.
Sacram is sacred polyphony, both ancient and moding upon it. Musicam Sacram offers five concrete reasons
Music that is “simply religious” refers to a kind of
ern, which is also specifically mentioned by the liturgy
why the sung liturgy is the preferred form of celebration.
popular music that is essentially non-liturgical in its purconstitution as being second to Gregorian chant in the
First, “through [the sung liturgy], prayer is expressed
pose. Religious music is “any music which, either by the
category of sacred music (SC 116). The 1958 instruction
in
a more attractive way…” (MS 5). Beauty, according to
intention of the composer or by the subject or purpose of
on which Musicam Sacram relies defines polyphony as
St.
Thomas, is the veritatis splendor—the splendor of the
the composition, serves to arouse devotion and religious
“measured music which arose from the tradition of Gretruth,
or the truth’s attractive power. When the liturgy is
sentiments” (DMSSL 10). Such music “is an effective aid
gorian chant. It is choral music written in many voicesung,
it
is made more beautiful and it more easily attracts
to religion” (ibid.) according to the definiparts, and sung without instrumental accompaniment.
souls toward participation in the
tion of the 1958 instruction. This kind of
It began to flourish in the Latin Church in the Middle
reality that the liturgy expresses.
sacred music is “very effective in fostering “When the liturgy is
Ages, and reached its height in the art of Giovanni PierSecond, “the mystery of the litthe devotion of the faithful in celebrations
luigi Palestrina (1524-1594) in the latter half of the sixsung,
it
is
made
more
urgy,
with its hierarchical and
of the word of God, and in popular deteenth century; distinguished musicians of our time still
community
nature, is more openly
votions,” (MS 46) according to Musicam
cultivate this art…. When [polyphony] is composed spebeautiful and it more shown…” when
sung (MS 5). Every
Sacram. This support for religious music
cifically for liturgical use it must be animated by a spirit
part
of
the
Mystical
Body of Christ
easily attracts souls has a liturgical role proper
echoes the liturgy constitution’s statement
of devotion and piety; only on this condition can it be
to it, and
that “[p]opular devotions of the Christian
admitted as suitable accompaniment for these services”
toward
participation
the manner and style of each sung
people are to be highly commended” (SC
(DMSSL 6-7).
is distinct. This distinction is
13) in order to deepen and foster faith,
Tra le sollecitudini also says that classic polyphony
in the reality that the part
lost when the texts of the liturgy
and in order to help “the faithful come
“agrees admirably with Gregorian Chant, the supreme
are merely spoken. The mystery of
liturgy expresses.”
to [the liturgy] with proper dispositions”
model of all sacred music” and that “it has been found
the liturgy is more clearly revealed
(SC 11). Strictly speaking, religious music
worthy of a place side by side with Gregorian Chant…”
by the layer of musical commen“is not to be used during liturgical cer(TLS 4). In our own efforts of liturgical renewal today,
tary that the melodies of the liturgy
emonies” (DMSSL 10) but is more suited to devotional
the polyphonic tradition certainly has much to offer,
place upon the liturgical text.
use.
both in its own right and as a model for new musical
Third, “the unity of hearts is more profoundly achieved
Hymns lie on the boundary between liturgical popular
composition. It demonstrates one of the most excellent
by the union of voices…” (MS 5). The chant of the liturgy
music and religious music. The hymn has a deep hisways that the sacred music tradition has organically deis fundamentally music that is sung in unison. The unity
tory in the sacred liturgy as a constitutive part of the Litveloped new musical forms out of those already existing,
of sound in the sung liturgy is both a symbol of and an
urgy of the Hours; however, the use of the hymn during
namely Gregorian chant.
aid to the unity of hearts and minds that the liturgy reMass is relatively recent. Musicam Sacram allows for the
Next, Musicam Sacram lists sacred music for the organ
quires. In the liturgy it is Christ who prays to the Father
modern custom of replacing the texts of the Mass at the
and other approved instruments, echoing Sacrosanctum
in the unity of the Holy Spirit. The unity of voices in song
Entrance, Offertory, and Communion to continue acConcilium 120. The primacy of the organ is constant in
more clearly expresses this reality and more deeply encording to the judgment of the competent territorial authe Church’s teaching on sacred music, whether as a solo
Please see RENEWAL on page 10
thority (MS 32), yet the same Concilium that composed
instrument or for the accompaniment of singing. Pope

8

Adoremus Bulletin, November 2016
Continued from KNEELING on page 3

The Ambo: Launch Platform for the Word
By
Denis R. McNamara
___________________

T

The Ambo, Naturally…
In its Greek original, the word ambon
(ἄμβων) simply means a rim or raised
area. A raised platform called a migdal,
frequently translated as “pulpit” in
scripture, is mentioned in the Book of
Nehemiah (8:4), and Solomon is recorded as having constructed a bronze
platform upon which he stood at the
consecration of the Temple (2 Chron
13). Over time, though, the term acquired its current meaning as a reading desk used in the liturgical setting.
Perhaps the earliest written record
of the ambo in ecclesiastical history
comes from Canon 15 of the Council
of Laodicea (c. 363), which spoke of
those who sing from the ambo. Similarly, the fourth-century Church historian Socrates of Constantinople speaks
of St. John Chrysostom mounting an
ambo to preach.4 The use of the ambo
grew widespread through next eight
centuries before eventually declining.
The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia included an entry on the ambo by name
and summed up the arc of the use of
the ambo succinctly: “[T]hey were
first introduced into churches during
the fourth century, were in universal
use by the ninth, reaching their full
development and artistic beauty in the
twelfth, and then gradually fell out of
use.”5
The 1967 New Catholic Encyclopedia noted that the term “pulpit” was
gradually being replaced by the term
“ambo” because the new Order of
Mass of Vatican II directed that “the
Service of the Word be not at the altar”
but at the ambo.6 Here lies the essential
distinction considered so important in
the liturgical reform of the twentieth
century. Pulpits, properly speaking,
were primarily used for preaching, and
developed in the late Middle Ages as a
place separate from the proclamation
of scripture. The twentieth-century
development of liturgical theology
included a new awareness that the
readings of the Mass were meant to be
proclaimed and not reduced to a silent
recitation by the priest at the altar. The

AB/St. Matthew Cathedral

he General Instruction of the
Roman Missal (GIRM) makes a
striking claim: “[W]hen the Sacred Scriptures are read in the Church,
God himself speaks to his people, and
Christ, present in his word, proclaims
the Gospel” (no. 29).1 This high theology of sacramental revelation runs
consistently through the Catholic
liturgical worldview: human beings
encounter heavenly realities through
the mediation of earthly matter. At the
top of this pyramid of sacramental mediation stands the Eucharist, the very
Presence of the ineffable God taking a
form that humans can see, touch, and
eat.
But church furnishings take part in
this sacramental economy as well. The
altar, for instance, represents Christ as
the Anointed One standing amidst his
people.2 Similarly, the ambo is more
than a reading desk that conveniently
holds liturgical books. It signifies and
magnifies the importance of the “living
and effective” word of God proclaimed
in the liturgy, through which Christ
“sanctifies humanity and offers the
Father perfect worship.”3 According
to the mind of the Church, the ambo
extends in the visual realm the mission of the proclamation of the sacred
scripture which “expresses the Father’s
love that never fails in its effectiveness
toward us” (LM 4).

The early twentieth-century ambo at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew in Washington, DC,
indicates the rediscovery of the importance of the liturgical proclamation of scripture. In
its elevation, size, and richness, it signifies and magnifies the importance of the Word proclaimed. The small wooden lectern to the left, used for non-scriptural announcements, is
clearly secondary. The empty space under the ambo has been compared to the empty tomb
of Christ.

“The ambo signifies the
rediscovery and return of
the liturgically-celebrated
proclamation of Christ’s
presence in the scriptures
to the people of God.”
same entry in the New Catholic Encyclopedia noted with a certain sense of
regret that the architecturally significant ambos of the early Church had
been reduced “to a mere bookstand on
the altar.” When this public proclamation of scripture was “rediscovered,”
the ambo was rediscovered as well.
The Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy reestablished the importance of the liturgical
proclamation of scripture by framing
it theologically as part of the liturgical action of Christ: “He is present in
His word, since it is He Himself who
speaks when the holy scriptures are
read in the Church” (SC 7). Later,
paragraph 24 took the notion even
further: “Sacred scripture is of the
greatest importance in the celebration
of the liturgy. For it is from scripture
that lessons are read and explained in
the homily and psalms are sung; the
prayers, collects, and liturgical songs
are scriptural in their inspiration and
their force, and it is from the scriptures
that actions and signs derive their
meaning.” The homily, too, was directed to be an expounding of the Word
of God which “should draw its content
mainly from scriptural and liturgical
sources, and its character should be
that of a proclamation of God’s wonderful works in the history of salvation, the mystery of Christ, ever made

present and active within us, especially
in the celebration of the liturgy” (SC
35).
Then word “ambo,” then, is a richly
charged term. It signifies the rediscovery and return of the liturgicallycelebrated proclamation of Christ’s
presence in the scriptures to the people
of God. It is no mere functional bookstand, but holds significant theological
import as a signifier of the importance
of scripture itself. Accordingly, it is a
reserved place, one used exclusively
by ministers of the Word. The GIRM
explains how an ambo is to be used:
“From the ambo only the readings,
the responsorial Psalm, and the Easter Proclamation (Exsultet) are to be
proclaimed; it may be used also for
giving the homily and for announcing the intentions of the Prayer of the
Faithful” (309). The very reservation of
the ambo to specific use is one way of
indicating the importance of the scriptures proclaimed. But an ambo’s design
can also lead a viewer to understand
its purpose as a thing which reaches
into the heavenly future and renders
it present to us now. It then begins to
contribute to a kind of visual mystagogical catechesis which is always concerned with “bringing out the significance of the rites for the Christian life.”7
In designing an ambo, the practical, functional needs are presumed to
be taken into account, but after mere
functionality, mystagogical catechesis
comes into play. A simple lectern, for
instance, by its nature indicates the
idea of a book holder and stand. A
properly designed ambo reveals something more: the deep, interior meaning
of the importance of the proclamation
of scripture. The architect’s choices either help or hinder the process of being led from the external signs to the
Please see AMBO on page 9

the latter high-handedly grasped at
likeness to God, Christ does not count
equality with God, which is his by nature, “a thing to be grasped,” but humbles himself unto death, even death on
the Cross. It is precisely this humility,
which comes from love, that is the truly divine reality and procures for him
the “name which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, in heaven and on earth
and under the earth” (Phil 2:5-10).
Here the hymn of the apostolic Church
takes up the words of promise in Isaiah
45:23: “By myself I have sworn, from
my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To
me every knee shall bow, every tongue
shall swear.’” In the interweaving of Old
and New Testaments, it becomes clear
that, even as crucified, Jesus bears the
“name above every name”—the name
of the Most High—and is himself God
by nature. Through him, through the
Crucified, the bold promise of the Old
Testament is now fulfilled: all bend
the knee before Jesus, the One who
descended, and bow to him precisely
as the one true God above all gods.
The Cross has become the worldembracing sign of God’s presence,
and all that we have previously heard
about the historical and cosmic Christ
should now, in this passage, come back
into our minds. The Christian liturgy
is a cosmic liturgy precisely because
it bends the knee before the crucified
and exalted Lord. Here is the center of
authentic culture—the culture of truth.
The humble gesture by which we fall at
the feet of the Lord inserts us into the
true path of life of the cosmos.
There is much more that we might
add. For example, there is the touching
story told by Eusebius in his history of
the Church as a tradition going back
to Hegesippus in the second century.
Apparently, St. James, the “brother of
the Lord,” the first bishop of Jerusalem
and “head” of the Jewish Christian
Church, had a kind of callous on his
knees, because he was always on his
knees worshipping God and begging
for forgiveness for his people (2, 23,
6). Again, there is a story that comes
from the sayings of the Desert Fathers,
according to which the devil was compelled by God to show himself to a certain Abba Apollo. He looked black and
ugly, with frighteningly thin limbs, but,
most strikingly, he had no knees. The
inability to kneel is seen as the very essence of the diabolical.
But I do not want to go into more
detail. I should like to make just one
more remark. The expression used by
St. Luke to describe the kneeling of
Christians (theis ta gonata) is unknown
in classical Greek. We are dealing here
with a specifically Christian word.
With that remark, our reflections return full circle to where they began. It
may well be that kneeling is alien to
modern culture—insofar as it is a culture, for this culture has turned away
from the faith and no longer knows
the One before whom kneeling is the
right, indeed the intrinsically necessary
gesture. The man who learns to believe
learns also to kneel, and faith or a liturgy no longer familiar with kneeling
would be sick at the core. Where it has
been lost, kneeling must be rediscovered, so that, in our prayer, we remain
in fellowship with the apostles and
martyrs, in fellowship with the whole
cosmos, indeed in union with Jesus
Christ himself.
Reprinted with permission from The
Spirit of the Liturgy (San Francisco:
Ignatius Press, 2000), pages 190-4.

The twelfth-century ambo at San Lorenzo Fuori Le Mura Church in Rome, which is raised
up steps on two sides, takes the shape of the “holy mountain” from which the Good News
of the Resurrection is proclaimed in the scriptures.

On the Divine Liturgy has proven a
rich source for the mystical meaning
of the sacred liturgy, described the
ambo as a mountain situated in a flat
and level place, citing Isaiah in two
places: “on a bare hill raise a signal” (Is
13:2) and the aforementioned “behold
your God!”12 Centuries later, William
Durandus (d. 1296) extended the notion of the ambo as symbolizing the
life of the perfect, those held up in
public for emulation, just as scripture
speaks of the life and works of the
apostles, prophets and Christ.
Germanus also mentioned the ambo
as manifesting “the shape of the stone
at the Holy Sepulchre” described in
Matthew 28. In this passage, the angel who rolled away the stone then sat
upon it and proclaimed the news of
the resurrection for the first time to
Mary Magdalene and the women with
her, noting that the tomb was empty
and Jesus had risen (Mt 28: 1-7). The
ambo, then, can be seen as the sacramental imitation and continuation
of this singularly important Gospel
message. Architect Dino Marcantonio
has aptly analyzed many existing early
ambos as fundamentally circular in
plan,13 arguing that the stone that was
rolled away from the tomb of Christ
was then laid flat and became the first
of the “holy mountains” from which
was proclaimed the Risen Christ. As
Marcantonio put it: “It is as though
the disc-like stone of the Holy Sepulchre has itself been raised up so the
priest standing upon it might more
perfectly imitate the angel at the Tomb
proclaiming the Gospel.” Correspondingly, the news of Christ’s resurrection
corresponds not only to the stone but
to the empty tomb, which the angel
asked the women to come and inspect
(Mt 28:6). The empty space below an

elevated ambo has been compared to
the empty tomb, while the ambo’s design richness speaks of the glory of the
good news of the resurrection.14
Elementary Contribution
Unlike an altar, which has numerous
theological meanings and many explanatory references in the Church’s
liturgical books, practical directions
for the design of an ambo are given in
very general ways and in a relatively
few places. The Introduction to the
Lectionary for Mass simply notes that
“there must be a place in the church
that is somewhat elevated, fixed, and
of a suitable design and nobility” (LM
32). An elevated ambo corresponds
with both the practical considerations
of being seen and heard as well as
the theological concepts of the holy
mountain and sacred stone. Similarly,
an ambo is fixed to the floor for the
same reason an altar is fixed: in each
case the permanence of Christ amidst
his people is indicated by immovable liturgical furnishings. Moreover,
“nobility” carries significant theological import as well. The word “noble”
has grown in modern parlance as a
shortening of the English word “knowable,” which itself finds its origin in
the Latin word noscere, meaning “to
know.” So something that is noble is
actually “knowable,” meaning that
it reveals what it is at the level of its
identity. Consequently, a noble ambo
will indeed be one which indicates the
importance of the proclamation of the
resurrection.
The ambo makes its particular contribution to the symbol system of the
rite much in the way particular people
contribute as members of the Mystical
continued on page 12

AB/Denis McNamara

AB/Wikimedia

The presence of Christ
in scripture should not,
however, be seen as competitive with the Presence
of Christ in the Eucharist.
Indeed, the presence of
Christ in the scriptures,
while important, is held in
great reverence precisely
because it leads to the Eucharist. The introduction to the Lectionary for
Mass notes that preaching
the word is necessary for
proper participation in the
sacraments because they
are “sacraments of faith,
and faith is born and nourished from the Word” (LM
10). Understanding and
believing in the EuchaOne of the most glorious surviving examples, the Ambo
rist, for example, is rooted
of Henry II (c. 1002 AD) in Germany’s Aachen Cathedral
in Christ’s life, death and
reveals the importance of the liturgical proclamations of
resurrection, which believscripture. Silver, gold, and precious stones used to adorn
ers know from hearing the
the ambo signify the radiance of heaven as described in
the Book of Revelation.
word proclaimed. While
the scriptures do not substitute for faith in the EuchaContinued from AMBO on page 8
rist, they provide a role so critical that
realities of Christ’s own word. Here in
the Church offers the following phrase:
a nutshell is the concept of “mystagogi“The Church has honored the word of
cal catechesis:” a Christian is meant to
God and the Eucharistic mystery with
encounter the realities of God by seethe same reverence, although with not
ing earthly “signs” and be lead through
the same worship, and has always and
them to encounter the heavenly realeverywhere insisted upon and sancties which break through.8
tioned such an honor” (LM 10).
The Church gives a poetic and thorMystical Meanings
ough description of this relationship
Instructions given in liturgical books
between word and sacrament: “The
typically first establish the nature of
Church is nourished spiritually at the
liturgical things by laying out fountwofold table of God’s word and of the
dational practical considerations. The
Eucharist: from the one it grows in
GIRM, for instance, gives the emiwisdom and from the other in holinently practical direction that there
ness. In the word of God the divine
be an ambo in a church and that it
covenant is announced; in the Euchashould be located in a place where the
rist the new and everlasting covenant
attention of the faithful naturally turns
is renewed. On the one hand the hisduring the Liturgy of the Word (309).
tory of salvation is brought to mind by
The Book of Blessings continues where
means of human sounds; on the other
the GIRM leaves off, noting that the
is made manifest in the sacramental
ambo must be “worthy to serve as the
signs of the liturgy” (LM 10).
place from which the word of God
Logically, then, the trend of recent
is proclaimed and must be a striking
church design which relates the dereminder to the faithful that the table
sign of the ambo to the altar through
of God’s word is always prepared for
material and ornamental motifs is a
them.”9 The concept of a “striking repositive outgrowth of this rediscovery
minder” indicates that an ambo should
of the relationship between word and
somehow claim the viewer’s attention
sacrament. The Church asks quite conand give clarity to the importance of
spicuously that the ambo be designed
the word proclaimed. The Latin text
to indicate the “harmonious and close
of the blessing of an ambo from the
relationship of the ambo with the alBook of Blessings does not use the word
tar” (LM 32). And just as an altar indi“striking,” but rather the verb redigere,
cates Christ in his eschatological glory,
indicating that it should redirect or
similarly this care should be extended
render present in the memory of the
to the ambo.
faithful that this table of the Word is
always ready.10 Indeed the concept
Holy Mountain, Sacred Stone,
of mystagogical catechesis is embedEmpty Tomb
ded in this phrase; the external signs
In scripture, mountains or other
raised areas are clearly linked to conshould lead to the realities of the mystact with God: Moses received the
tery. Growing from the nature of procTen Commandments on Mount Sinai,
lamation of the scriptures, the ambo
the Temple was built on Mount Mohas acquired several symbolic meanriah, the Transfiguration happened on
ings which can provide helpful in unMount Tabor, and the Ascension at the
derstanding their design: table of the
Mount of Olives. Similarly, mountains
Word, holy mountain, sacred stone,
can signify places from which human
and empty tomb.
beings proclaim the Good News, as
in Isaiah 40:9, where the “herald of
Table of Contents
good tidings” is told to go up to a high
Because Christ is present in the scripmountain and say to the cities of Judah
tures proclaimed and he himself pro“behold your God!” Christ gave the
claims the Gospel through his earthly
teaching of the Beatitudes by going up
minister, the Church makes it clear
a mountain (Mt 5:1) and is described
that the reading of scripture is indeed
in the Gospels as going up a mountain
a liturgical act, not simply a classroom
to pray (Mt 14:23, Lk 6:12) and taking
lesson before the Eucharistic Prayer.11
the disciples up a mountain to appoint
In liturgical celebrations, the realities
the twelve apostles (Mk 3:13, Lk 6:13).
of salvation history are not offered as
The sacramentalization of this holy
reminders only, but are “presented
mountain in the liturgical setting has
anew as mysterious realities” (LM 7),
traditionally been made present by
making them effective in the life of
raising the ambo up a number of steps,
their hearers. Under the working of
as several of the earliest existing Rothe Holy Spirit, the Church aspires that
man examples attest. St. Germanus of
“what we hear outwardly [may] have
Constantinople (died c. 730), whose
its effects inwardly” (LM 9).

9

AB/Richard Mortel on Flickr

Adoremus Bulletin, November 2016

This new ambo was designed to show its intimate relation with the altar of sacrifice, just as
the Liturgy of the Word is meant to lead to the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Chapel of Saint John
Paul II, Mundelein Seminary, 2015. James McCrery, architect.

10

From Norway, with Love
May Christ’s Peace fill all hearts! We
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We built our little monastery ourselves and we celebrate and sing the
Gregorian Mass and the Byzantine
Divine Liturgy.
God bless your good work, and
please say a prayer for us.
Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and
Mother Mary,
— Father Robert
Kevin Anderson, OCSO
Trappist Monks, Norway
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Q
A

The Rite Questions

: What is “intinction,” and is it allowed?

: “Intinction” is the practice of
dipping the consecrated host
into the Precious Blood and
then receiving the “intincted” host in
Holy Communion.
Distribution of holy communion to
the lay faithful in the Roman Rite can
take place in a number of ways: either
“by drinking from the chalice directly,
or by intinction, or by means of a tube
or a spoon” (General Instruction of
the Roman Missal (GIRM) 245). These
latter methods—via tube or spoon—as
suggested by the U.S. Bishops’ Norms
for the Distribution and Reception of
Holy Communion Under Both Kinds
in the Dioceses of the United States of
America (Norms) are “not customary in the Latin dioceses of the United
States of America.”
Reception by way of intinction,
however, is an option foreseen by both
the GIRM and the U.S. Bishops. The
GIRM directs: “If Communion from
the chalice is carried out by intinction,
each communicant, holding a Communion-plate under the mouth, ap-

proaches the Priest who holds a vessel
with the sacred particles, with a minister standing at his side and holding the
chalice. The Priest takes a host, intincts
it partly in the chalice and, showing it,
says, The Body and Blood of Christ. The
communicant replies, Amen, receives
the Sacrament in the mouth from the
Priest, and then withdraws” (287; see
also Norms 48).
The priest celebrant or concelebrants
may also receive by way of intinction,
where the priest himself dips the host
into the Precious Blood and self-communicates (GIRM 249). The lay faithful, however, may never intinct the
host themselves and then receive: “The
communicant must not be permitted
to intinct the host himself in the chalice, nor to receive the intincted host
in the hand” (Redemptionis
Sacramentum 104).
The US Bishops also emphasize this
point: “The communicant, including
the extraordinary minister, is never
allowed to self-communicate, even by
means of intinction. Communion un-

Continued from RENEWAL on page 7

ables participation in it.
Fourth, “minds are more easily raised
to heavenly things by the beauty of the
sacred rites…” (MS 5). Once again, Musicam Sacram reiterates the importance of
beauty in the liturgy. Beauty is not mere
decoration in the liturgy but is an active
agent that helps the faithful transcend
the cares and concerns of the world and
directs them toward the things of heaven,
in which they give glory to God and are
filled with heavenly grace.
Fifth, “the whole celebration more
clearly prefigures that heavenly liturgy
which is enacted in the holy city of Jerusalem” (MS 5). The music of the liturgy
sacramentalizes the hosts of angels and
saints in heaven who ceaselessly sing
praise and adoration to God and to the
Lamb. Through liturgical chant, fallen
human speech—the effect of Babel—is
restored and made a symbol of the heavenly perfection toward which the pilgrim
Church is journeying.
It is for these reasons that Musicam
Sacram recommends the sung form of
the liturgy as its normal form of celebration, and states that “[p]astors of souls
will therefore do all they can to achieve
this form of celebration” (MS 5).
The second part of this series on implementing Musicam Sacram today will
explore the principle of Progressive
Solemnity: Musicam Sacram’s plan
for sung liturgy in every parish.
Adam Bartlett is a composer and conductor of Catholic sacred music and serves
as President and Editor of Illuminare
Publications. He is composer and editor

The music of the liturgy sacramentalizes
the hosts of angels and saints in heaven
who ceaselessly sing praise and adoration to God and to the Lamb, as depicted
here by Hans Memling (d.1494).

of Simple English Propers, and editor of
the Lumen Christi Missal, Lumen Christi
Simple Gradual, and Lumen Christi
Hymnal. Active as a speaker, teacher,
writer and clinician, Adam speaks and
presents on topics of liturgy, music, and
the new evangelization throughout the
United States and English-speaking world.
He resides in Denver, CO, with his wife
and two daughters.
___________________________ _ _ _ __
1. Susan Benofy, “The Instruction Musicam Sacram
after Fifty Years: Rediscovering the Principles of Sacred
Music,” Adoremus Bulletin, pp. 1, 4-5, http://adoremus.
org/issues/Adoremus_Bulletin_2016_September.pdf.
2. Four more “instructions for the right implementation of Sacrosanctum Concilium” after Inter Oecumenici
were released in the following decades by the same
congregation, the latest of which was Liturgiam Authenticam, promulgated in 2001, on principles of liturgical
translation.
3. Most notably: Tra le Sollecitudini (1903), Divini
Cultus (1928), Mediator Dei (1947), Musicae Sacrae
Disciplina (1955), and De Musica Sacra et Sacra Liturgia
(1958).
4. See “Footnotes for a Hermeneutic of Continuity: Sacrosanctum Concilium’s Vanishing Citations”, Adoremus

Benofy Shout-Out
Please thank Susan Benofy for the
thorough background check of the
2007 USCCB document “Sing to the
Lord” in the September 2016 issue.
Very informative!
— Martin Franklin
Hibbing, MN
A Corporal Work of Mercy
Greetings to you. Can you please tell
me if Adoremus has a prison ministry
or is able to donate materials to a Cath-

der either form, bread or wine, must
always be given by an ordinary or extraordinary minister of Holy Communion” (Norms 50).
The topic of intinction begs a further
question. Even though communion
can be distributed by intinction, should
it be? Pastors disagree. To its credit,
communion via intinction means that
each communicant receives the Blood
of Christ under the form of consecrated wine. The practice also requires
that the priest, the ordinary minister of
communion, is the distributor. On the
other hand, a host may drip the Precious Blood, although current intinction vessels lessen this danger. Also,
the communicant himself cannot receive in his hand—which is considered
a benefit by some, but not by all. Still
others observe that the Lord’s command to “drink this” and not simply
“receive this” is better signified by receiving directly from the chalice.

Answered by Christopher Carstens

Bulletin Vol. XXI, No. 1, pp. 8-9, http://www.adoremus.
org/AdoremusSpring2015.pdf. The online edition also
includes the whole of Sacrosanctum Concilium with the
citations including full texts of the sources that were
included in the Council’s working drafts of the document. The sixth chapter on sacred music, with pertinent
passages from the early 20th century liturgy and music
documents, can be found on pages 26-31.
5. See Sacrosanctum Concilium, art. 10; Cf. Sacramentum Caritatis, art. 84
6. Tra le Sollecitudini, art. 1: “Sacred music, being a
complementary part of the solemn liturgy, participates
in the general scope of the liturgy, which is the glory
of God and the sanctification and edification of the
faithful.”
7. In the sense of the Latin word “profanus,” meaning
“outside the temple,” pro- (meaning “before”) + fanum
(meaning “temple”).
8. Sacrosanctum Concilium, art. 112: “Therefore sacred
music is to be considered the more holy in proportion as it is more closely connected with the liturgical
action, whether it adds delight to prayer, fosters unity
of minds, or confers greater solemnity upon the sacred
rites.”
9. Tra le Sollecitudini, art. 1: “[Sacred music] contributes to the decorum and the splendor of the ecclesiastical ceremonies, and since its principal office is to clothe
with suitable melody the liturgical text proposed for
the understanding of the faithful, its proper aim is to
add greater efficacy to the text, in order that through it
the faithful may be the more easily moved to devotion
and better disposed for the reception of the fruits of
grace belonging to the celebration of the most holy
mysteries.”
10. See SC 116. Emphasis added. The translation used
here reflects the translation of the words “principem
locum obtineat” given in the 2011 edition of the
General Instruction of the Roman Missal, which reads:
“The main place should be given, all things being equal,
to Gregorian chant, as being proper to the Roman
Liturgy” (GIRM 41). This translation, updated according to the principles of Liturgiam Authenticam, is more
literally faithful to the Latin text of Sacrosanctum Concilium. The Latin phrase “principem locum”, meaning,
literally, “first place” has been commonly rendered as
“pride of place” in the years preceding the most recent
GIRM, which tends to weaken its significance.
11. These settings can be found in the booklet Iubilate
Deo, issued in 1974 by Pope Paul VI to the bishops of
the world as a personal gift. It contains a “minimum
repertoire of Gregorian chant” in response to the
request of the Council in Sacrosanctum Concilium art.
54. The entire booklet can be downloaded in PDF form
at http://www.ceciliaschola.org/pdf/jubilateb.pdf.
12. Notitiae 5 [1969] 406; Cf. BCL Newsletter, Volume
XXIX, August-Sept 1993, paragraph 9-11.

olic prison community? Prison ministry is overlooked at times and often
forgotten.
— Greg Marcinski
Otisville, NY
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11

Adoremus Bulletin, November 2016

Adoremus

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MEMORIAL FOR:
Barbara Reid - Deacon Joseph P. Reid
In Thanksgiving for the People and Clergy
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Our special thanks to our Friends, Members, and to all
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november 2016

The Ambo and the Angelic Announcement
As the Divine Word reveals more than first meets the
ear, Denis McNamara shows the ambo holds up more
than first meets the eye.

Adoremus Bulletin

AB

Liner Notes for Liturgy’s Musical Renewal
Even if the 1967 instruction Musicam Sacram has not
been universally appreciated, according to composer
and teacher Adam Bartlett, it is renewning the life
and direction of liturgical music today.

Pope Benedict and Colin Kaepernick Take a Knee
Standing, sitting, and kneeling: bodily postures portray
invisible ideas. Even if their ideas may differ, both popes
and quarterbacks agree, the humble knee holds powerful
meaning.

Reflections from the Fount of Mercy
At the Year of Mercy’s close, priests find the liturgy a
source of mercy—on the High Plains of the U.S., in
the rubble of an Italian earthquake, and in the
rugged religious landscape of Jordan.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Adoremus Bulletin

PO Box 385

1. Here the General Instruction echoes Sacrosanctum Concilium, paragraph 7: “He is present
in His word, since it is He Himself who speaks
when the holy scriptures are read in the Church.”
2. For more on the mystagogical catechesis of the
altar, see Denis McNamara, “Altar as Alter Christus: Ontology and Sacramentality,” Adoremus
Bulletin, May 2016.
3. Lectionary for Mass, Introduction, 4. Hereafter referred to as LM.
4. See Socrates of Constantinople, Ecclesiastical
History, Book VI, chapter v.
5. The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, entry “Ambo,”
accessed at www.newadvent.com.
6. “Pulpit,” New Catholic Encyclopedia (New
York: McGraw Hill, 1967).
7. Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis, 64.
Italics original.
8. See the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
1075. “Liturgical catechesis aims to initiate people into the mystery of Christ (It is ‘mystagogy’)
by proceeding from the visible to the invisible,
from the sign to the things signified, from the
‘sacraments’ to the ‘mysteries.’”

La Crosse, WI 54602-0385

“Christ speaks the word
to the ear through the
sacramental mediation
of his minister. The
ambo shows the
importance of that
word to the eye.”

_________________________________________

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Body of Christ. In every case, it does
its particular part in revealing the eschatological glory that all liturgical
things share. Through history, therefore, ambos have included precious
metals, mosaics, colored marbles and
even gemstones to indicate the jewellike radiance of heaven. Ornaments
which grow from the nature of the
ambo itself might include the cross,
symbols of the gospel writers, other
saint evangelists, angels as mystical
announcers of the message of the resurrection, or ornamental patterns of
leaves and flowers indicating both the
garden of Christ’s tomb and the garden
of the New Earth anticipated in the
liturgy. More than a lectern and more
than a pulpit, an ambo gives a glorified
visual amplification of the minster of
the word who sacramentalizes Christ
himself speaking to his people. Christ
speaks the word to the ear through the
sacramental mediation of his minister.
The ambo shows the importance of
that word to the eye.

Denis R. McNamara is Associate Director and faculty member at the Liturgical Institute of the University of Saint
Mary of the Lake / Mundelein Seminary, a graduate program in liturgical
studies. He holds a BA in the History of
Art from Yale University and a PhD in
Architectural History from the University of Virginia, where he concentrated
his research on the study of ecclesiastical
architecture of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He has served on the
Art and Architecture Commission of the
Archdiocese of Chicago and works frequently with architects and pastors all
over the United States in church renovations and new design. Dr. McNamara
is the author of Catholic Church Architecture and the Spirit of the Liturgy
(Chicago: Hillenbrand Books, 2009),
Heavenly City: The Architectural Tradition of Catholic Chicago (Liturgy
Training Publications, 2005), and How
to Read Churches: A Crash Course
in Ecclesiastical Architecture (Rizzoli,
2011).

Please remember to check the ABOVE LABEL for the date of your last donation.
If it has been a year or more, please send your donation now. Thank You!

Continued from AMBO on page 9

FAQs on the Ambo
Q: What’s the difference between an ambo and a lectern?
A: The terminology for the ambo is sometimes used loosely and
interchangeably, though there is a certain consensus on the use of the words
today. Below is a handy glossary for understanding the meaning of each
word.
Bema: In ancient Greece, a raised platform for public speeches or legal
proceedings. In Judaism, a raised platform for public reading of the Torah.
In many Eastern Christian traditions, the raised platform of which the
entire sanctuary is comprised.
Lectern: In the Western Church, a relatively small and unadorned stand
or desk for cantors or announcements outside of the liturgical proclamation
of scripture.
Pulpit: Properly speaking, a raised platform used for preaching rather
than the proclamation of scripture. Today, many older pulpits are used for
the Liturgy of the Word and are therefore used as ambos.
Ambo: In the Latin Church, a fixed, raised and noble place for the
liturgical proclamation of scripture and further commentary in a homily.
In many Eastern churches, the area of the bema in front of the holy doors
which projects forward into the nave.
Q: Is there to be only one ambo in a church?
Some older churches appear to have two.
A: The Church’s liturgical documents do not specifically legislate the
number of ambos in a church, though they always speak of the ambo
(singular) and not ambos (plural). Before the Second Vatican Council
many churches which proclaimed the Mass readings in Latin from their
ambos on special occasions had one ambo for the Epistle and one for the
Gospel. Therefore certain liturgical documents even up to the mid-1960s
spoke of “the ambo or ambos.” Today, though, the unity of the word of God
proclaimed in scripture is typically emphasized by the use of a single ambo,
typically located in the sanctuary on the liturgical “south” side of a church,
that is, to the left of the altar as seen from the pews.